


los angeles is different at night

by kingblake



Category: New Girl
Genre: AU, Canon Divergence, F/M, First Time Meeting, raise your hand if youre a sucker for stupid tropes, reference to alcoholism/alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 12:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6658783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingblake/pseuds/kingblake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jessica day is still reeling from her breakup with spencer when cece decides to step in and help jess find a rebound. they end up at a bar, and jess, unfortunately in need of a fake date (because spencer's just walked in), turns to the friendly bartender for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	los angeles is different at night

**Author's Note:**

> this is for my girl kassie, thanks for gettin' me hooked on this show, dude!! everyone should go follow her on twitter @BELLAMYSRlVER ;D

if there's anything one might need to know about california, it was that los angeles was a very different place at night.

during the day, the city was empty, quiet, filled only with tourists and unemployed men and women who chose to spend their time in the park, walking around the shops. they ducked in and out of libraries and zoos and places that they'd go to rest, relax, pull out a book and listen to the ambiance of the birds in the sky, the owls and doves roosting in the nooks and crannies nestled amongst the buildings and skyscrapers. 

the city was open, swathed in sunlight, and the day was a beautiful day with a clear sky and a cool breeze. you might think it was the perfect day to wander to the park for a picnic, maybe take a stroll to the library, or even curl up in a plush bay window with a book and a cup of tea.

jessica day, however, had other plans.

she'd never felt so miserable in her life. her head hurt, her eyes hurt, her hands hurt (they always hurt when she wrung them too hard), but most of all, there was a gaping hole in her chest, raw and gross, and if heartbreak could be seen through the skin she'd guess that her chest would look mangled and broken, a hole the size of a foot punched through her skin. 

she was curled like a cat on cece's couch, swaddled in blankets, hands tightened into fists at her chest. her eyes were swollen, puffy, and as cece so kindly put it, looked like she'd punched them repeatedly, without remorse. tissues, both clean and used, surrounded her, and an empty carton of ice cream was causing a chilly pool of condensation to drip over the side of the table next to her. her hair, three days unbrushed, was piled on top of her head in a large, messy bun. 

jess the mess, cece had praised softly before leaving to go to a shoot that morning. mess was right. she hadn't showered in a few days and she'd been watching dirty dancing on repeat, nonstop, even while she napped. jess was absolutely miserable, inside and out, and all because of a boy.

when she'd walked in on spencer and his mistress, the initial shock didn't set in right away. she'd stared into those droopy eyes of his, watched him rake his fingers through his hair as he stammered out an apology, or at least something along those lines. the tears and snot weren't jess' immediate response. the numb feeling was.

she'd picked her clothes up off the floor, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. she'd thrown on her coat, hopped in her car, and driven off without another word to him. she couldn't get the image out of her head; her boyfriend, the man she'd seen in all her daydreams about her future, walking from their bedroom, whistling their song, wearing the boxers she got him. 

every time she closed her eyes, she saw spencer's face. 

and cece, upon arriving home for the third day in a row to a sobbing jess, was sick of it.

it was eight o' clock precisely when cece pushed open the door, dropped her purse, and plopped down on the couch next to jess. she let out a sigh, reaching behind her head and hooking her fingers into her hair, supporting her head with her palms. "jess, jess, jess..." she said on an exhale, letting her eyes slide shut. 

"look, babe, i know you're upset, but you can't just let yourself go. all you've eaten this week is ice cream." a beat. "and i'm not just saying that because i'm a model." cece reached over and plucked the remote off of jess' butt, where it'd been balancing for the past two hours. she clicked off the television. 

jess groaned, turning her head to whine into her pillow. "nnnnoooooooooo," she moaned, voice raspy. cece, ever the caring friend, reached over and rubbed jessica's arm. "you'll be fine. come on, i'm going to a party tonight for my company. it's time to find you a rebound."

\--

it had taken cece all of thirty minutes to coax jess off the couch. it had involved tickling, dragging, bribing, and even threats -- but, when all was said and done, cece had managed to get jess showered, groomed, and prepped to go to the bar. 

it'd been a bit of a search, but cece had somehow, miraculously, dug out a dress that wouldn't turn jess into a total stripper. it was a modest black dress, flowy at the bottom, with spaghetti straps and a dip in the back. a little bit of foundation evened out jess' blotchy skin and a swipe of eyeliner was all jess needed to look a little bit dangerous, a little bit sexy. 

the dress itself didn't bother jess, because she was never one to turn down a pretty dress, but since she'd hit her teens she'd been mildly self-conscious about just about every part of her body. she wasn't so self conscious that she wouldn't embrace herself, but she still worried about the size of her thighs, the length of her arms, the way her fingers bent when she wrote for too long. it wasn't too much of a hassle to dress the way cece wanted her to dress, but a silent voice in the back of her mind was constantly nagging, whether she chose to hear it or not.

in true jess fashion, she topped the dress with one of cece's lacy black cardigans and settled for a pair of black chuck taylors, so her feet wouldn't be worn out by the end of the night. she was already achy everywhere, so she felt that a pair of sneakers would be preferable to the stilettos cece had originally picked out for her. she'd managed to put on her contacts, and after an hour and a half, she and cece walked out the door smelling of soap and light perfume.

\--

the bar wasn't too crowded for a model party, and jess was pleasantly surprised. her eyes still hurt, and her hands shook at her sides as she slunk in behind cece's swaying hips, but that hole in her chest already felt smaller, less foot-sized and more softball sized. 

the lights were dim, the music was loud, and skinny women and their escorts milled around the stage, the bar, sprawled across the padded seats of the booths scattered loosely around the floor. cece broke away from jess for a moment, waving a quick hello to her boss, then turned with an excellent flip of her hair and let her hand rest on jess' back. she looked around again, clearly taller than jess, and for a moment looked almost horrified. she ducked down, grabbing at jess' jacket.

jess frowned. "what?" she asked, shouting over the music. cece was pushing her towards the back, near the bathrooms. the taller woman stopped, looked around again, then turned to jess, eyes wide.

"cheater alert, nine o' clock." she hissed into jess' ear, her breath warm. jess peeked over cece's shoulder and let out a similar hiss of her own, sucking air through her teeth. she lifted her hands to her cheeks, mouth falling open. spencer, that lying bastard, was standing by the main stage with his new lover, the woman jess had caught him with. by the looks of it, the new woman was a member of cece's agency. go figure.

jess began to bite her lip, widening her eyes to keep herself from crying. "oh, my god." she cried, jolting to her feet. "oh, my god. oh, my god." she threw her arms up in the air, nearly nailing cece in the chin. "i can't do this, cece. i have to leave. i have to get out of here." her voice was getting raspy again, the way it did when she was panicking. she was breathing hard, nearly hyperventilating. cece grabbed her arms, squeezing reassuringly.

"nonsense," cece crowed. "we came here to find you a rebound, so that's what we're doing. we won't leave until you have at least one phone number." the model spread her hand across jess' back reassuringly. "come on," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the music, which was blaring much louder than she was used to. "go sit at the bar and look cute. you're bound to get someone. i'll make sure spencer stays away, alright?"

jess nodded, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. she clomped over to the bar, pulling the stool back so she could fit between the wall and the edge of the bar. she scooted herself back in, banging her knees against the wall, then let out a little yelp as her elbow came to rest in a cold pool of water, probably left over from a glass that had been sitting there previously.

"my bad," said a voice, and jess glanced up, eyebrows cocked. the bartender pulled a towel off his shoulder, slapped it down, and wiped up the mess. "can i get you anything?" he asked, and jess shrugged.

"cece didn't tell me what i should get." she muttered helplessly. she hadn't yet looked up at the bartender's face, in case he could see through her makeup, the sadness, the regret laced around the decision to even come here in the first place. the bartender tapped his fingers on the counter, from what jess could see. 

"i'll come back in a bit, just let me know when you decide." he decided, then his shadow was gone. 

jess drummed her fingers against the counter, thinking about what cece said. could she get a phone number by the end of the night? and if she did, what would she do with it? she couldn't possibly jump back into a relationship so soon, and she still didn't have anywhere to live. if cece expected jess to bring someone home, she had another thing coming. jess was there to make a friend, maybe an acquaintance. nothing more.

she stared into the grain of the wood, finally quiet for once in her life. the music was softer, now, and she almost didn't notice when the bartender came back around. she lifted her head again, looking him in the eye this time.

her first thought, before she could even think about her drink order, was that he was cute. he wasn't traditionally cute, but not in the way that cece would consider someone cute. he was cute on jess' standards, which was enough. his hair was a rich shade of brown, with eyes to match. he looked sleepy, which jess guessed was his resting expression, and his mouth was turned down in a sort of scowl, and jess affectionately dubbed it the turtle expression.

"uh," she began, brows furrowing. "some white wine would be okay." she finally decided, even though wine wasn't the type of drink to be ordered at a bar. the bartender scrunched up his nose. 

she thought she heard him mutter something along the lines of "wine is for sissies," but she couldn't be sure. he loped away, and jess could see that his shoulders were wide, but not too muscular. he had long arms, from what jess could see, and his hands were considerably large. jess turned away, watching cece across the room, mingling and laughing with her model friends. fat lot of help she was being, jess thought bitterly.

ah, well, c'est la vie. 

when the bartender returned with the wine, jess was surprised to see that she was the last person sitting at the bar. he set down his towel and propped himself up on his elbows, much to jess' surprise. "you look sad," he pointed out, unhelpfully.

jess screwed up her mouth, eyes narrowing as she looked up at him through her bangs. "duh," she fired back, with almost too much hostility. she leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of her wine. "my boyfriend of four years cheated on me three days ago." she explained, using her free hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes. the bartender's scowl deepened, if possible. 

"that's crap." he said loudly, even though the music was softer. four models looked over at him and his cheeks bloomed red, despite the fact his expression remained indifferent. he leaned closer. "well, it's always a good idea to drink away your pain." he said, looking incredibly sincere.

jess blinked, once, twice, then let a small smile creep across her face. "that was a joke, right?" she asked, some of the color finally returning to her cheeks.

the bartender took a step back and rubbed the back of his neck, his own blush deepening. "oh, sure, yeah. totally. a joke." he backed away, making sure he didn't have any customers to serve. he returned to jess, extending one of his hands. "i'm nick." he said, tilting his head. a beat. "miller," he added.

jess took his hand, shaking it firmly. "nice to meet you, nick," she paused, imitating him. "miller. i'm jess." she was smiling for the first time in days, and it felt good. she and nick launched into a conversation about exes and breakups and meaningless things like music, current news, whether or not zebras were black with white stripes or white with black stripes. they were halfway through the argument when jess felt a hand on her shoulder.

much to her despair, when she looked up, it was spencer. he was looking down at her, brows furrowed. "hey," he said quietly, and jess gasped and wrenched her arm from his grip. 

"go away," she hissed. a quick glance at nick told her that he was looking up at spencer, gaze intense. jess tilted her head, confused. she turned her stool around and pushed spencer away. "leave me alone, spencer." she said, shouting. "i've got my new boyfriend to keep me company." she crowed, gesturing wildly at nick, who was doing his darnedest to keep a straight face. he nodded.

"that's right," he said firmly. "jess and i have already had sex fourteen times in the past three days." without breaking eye contact with spencer he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, scrunched up his nose, and began to air-thrust into the counter, pumping his fists opposite to each thrust. 

jess clapped her hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. she was incredibly pleased that nick had caught on, despite the extremity of his joke. jess decided to play into it, hamming it up for all it was worth. she stuck her tongue out of her mouth and shook her head back and forth, making screeching noises in the back of her throat. spencer, clearly disturbed, began to back away, palms up in submission. "forget i even came over here," he growled, prowling back to his girlfriend.

jess turned back around and high-fived nick, who promptly burst into a fit of breathless laughter. the two of them bent over the bar, foreheads nearly touching as they praised one another for their performance. they chatted and giggled with each other for the rest of the night, and when cece finally pulled jess away, nick stopped her with a hand on her arm. he'd come out from behind the bar, apron put away and looking slightly disheveled.

he grinned and held out his hand, in which he held a crumpled up napkin. "in case you wanna pull any pranks in the future." 

cece dragged jess to their car, and when they returned to cece's apartment, jess finally unrolled the napkin. in the center, written in scratchy writing, was a phone number.

exactly one week later, she called nick.

he invited her out for some drinks.

**Author's Note:**

> so? what did you think? i liked it a lot, and its probably one of the better things ive written in a while. hope you enjoyed. catch me on twitter @kingrosende!!!!


End file.
